Project Mu- (warning, words)

[mr.squishy]

So I decided to do my own Scrapyard wars build. I set out to have a budget of $300 and I ended up with $20 to spare. Almost every part to the build has it's own story, so I'll launch into that, but don't worry, those of you that want pics just scroll past the words.

 

Oh yeah, and Mu is a Greek letter. I name all of my builds after letters of the Greek alphabet.

 

CPU: FX-6300, $70

So I started out with a Sempron 145 that I pulled from my family computer's awful slimline Emachines. I shoved that in Mu, overclocked it until my system crashed, then I swapped it out for an FX-6300 that I got a good deal on.

CPU COOLER: HYPER 101a, $0

This was the cooler I used in my main rig before I upgraded to a Hyper 212 EVO.

MOTHERBOARD: ASROCK 970M EXTREME4, $55

I got a good deal on this from one of my forums, it was in immaculate condition when I received it.

RAM: 8GB HYPERX WHITE, $37

I got a good deal on this from a friend. (timerwin63)

STORAGE: 1TB WD BLUE, $41

I got this on Amazon Prime day. It wasn't on sale, that's just when I got it...

GPU: GIGABYTE HD 6870, $0

A friend of mine gave me this because it has artifacting issues. I have to reflow it to see if I can fix that, but after it is fixed I would like to pick up a second (cheap) one for crossfire.

CASE: DIYPC ZETTA-W, $50

Ok so I had more help from timerwin63 on this one. I asked him to find me the ugliest ATX case on newegg for under $50 and he delivered big time. This case is kinda weird, the built in fan speed controllers actually let you turn the fans OFF completely. The front panel USB headers also fried all of the USB sticks I tried installing windows on with.

PSU: DIABLOTEK 600W, $0

The same guy that gave me the GPU gave me this PSU. It is the sketchiest PSU  have ever seen.

WIRELESS ADAPTER: TPLINK, $20

It connects to the internet, nothing special about it really

VINYL STICKER: DONE BY A FRIEND, $0

I helped a graphic designer build a computer for his artwork so he gave me a free vinyl sticker.

 

TOTAL COST: $280

 

Now for some pics:

The sticker:

Cable management in this case actually was pretty decent:

The GPU in all its 11.42 inch glory:

 

And that's my scrapyard wars PC! if you guys have any suggestions for how I should reflow the GPU that would be awesome! Otherwise, criticism and praise are both much appreciated.

 

[Syntaxvgm]

great job, and I know it's budget breaking...

but ditch that psu 

before it takes something with it 

[SImoHayha]

Lol what is that tiny fan for ? Ants?

[blackadder]

yes what is the tiny fan for?

also nice beside the already noted psu, may be able to weld with it though. 

best title ever.

[failblox]

Funnily enough, I had to swap out my 6870 cause it had artifacting issues... If you have any success fixing that card, hit me up on the forums cause I'd be really interested to see what you did to fix it.

[mr.squishy]

Lol what is that tiny fan for ? Ants?

It's for cooling the power phases in my main rig.

 

Funnily enough, I had to swap out my 6870 cause it had artifacting issues... If you have any success fixing that card, hit me up on the forums cause I'd be really interested to see what you did to fix it.

Yeah I'll definitely hit you up when I cook it, I think I'm doing that today. Will post results.

[mr.squishy]

Update: Reflowing the GPU actually worked! It fixed all the artifacting issues that the card had, and it stays frosty under high stress conditions like during Skydiver

 

@failblox If you don't really need it I'll take your 6870 off your hands for cheap...